Those of you that know me know that I watch very little television. If you want someone to tell you what to believe, look at the news. Journalism as we know it is dead. Everyone has an opinion and if you are not sure of the facts, just watch any of the major networks, and they will tell you what to believe and how you should respond.
I instead decided to watch an old movie. The reason for the film is that I am writing a book which has to do with a mystery under the ocean. This mystery is claiming ships. The victims don’t have time to understand what is happening to them before they go to Davy Jones locker. 10,000 words into it I remembered an old movie called The Abyss. A trip to the half price book store not only was educational but profitable in that I found a copy of the film.
I was in hopes of gaining some inspiration for my novel.
Wow, no such luck!
Do you ever watch a movie with a critical eye? As a writer of over 25 novels; man do I get it! With back to the future, they had the flux capacitor. In my novel Under Roswell, I invented the PITM or Point In time Modulator. Creative writing must be laced with truths, that make sense. Unless you are creating Avatar and hope that the special effects will make your movie great, the story must also make sense and have some believability to it.
The physics of Abyss were just abysmal. I love the little creatures and special effects, but the movie could have used a little more, or better technical writing. I sat there watching it having trouble with the story. Possibly some of the continuity that it lacked fell on the cutting room floor.
When these massive ships are lifted out of the ocean on top of the alien craft, it was kind of impressive until you see their propellers wiggle in the breeze. Had those been real ships those propellers weigh tons. For them to flutter in the breeze would require more than a cat five hurricane!
“They must have done something to us; we did not decompress, we should be dead.” Was this an afterthought. Ok it was filmed in 1989, and I have no idea what the budget was but still.”
Many movies through history have been a technical disappointment in many ways. One of my all-time favorites was Journey to the Center of the Earth. Filmed in Carlsbad Caverns, the movie got my imagination going. Years later in life I got a large screen television and dared to watch it from a DVD.
Boy was that a mistake!
While they are standing on the top of the mountain waiting for a shaft of sunlight to point the way, the cinematographer captures a group picture of them on Mt. Scalterous. There in the blue sky behind them, is their shadow.
My hat is actually off to the writers of Big Bang theory. I understand physics pretty damned well, and they get it. The writers of House were good as well. I also have a good understanding of medical procedures and pharmacy and so on. My point is that it can be done, it just takes a little effort.
The tropes with Russia being the bad guy and of course the psycho navy seal that is going to nuke something causing our hero to inhale liquid goo that will allow him to dive over two miles deeper is more than a little far-fetched.
By the way, if you watched this movie you might remember our hero’s swimming from the bottom of the rig on the ocean floor from one hatch to another. Got that, they are thousands of feet down on the ocean floor, and they are just going to open up a hatch, take a deep breath and swim from one hatch to another.
Our heroine tells him that it is barely above freezing. Yeah ok…How about the pressures their bodies would be under at that depth.
For you nerds out there, at sea level, every square inch of your body has 14.6 pounds of pressure being applied to it. The pressure increases one atmosphere for every 32 feet or so. They would have been crushed at that depth once they exited the craft. With over 16,000 pounds per square inch, I don’t think the physics would work.
Our military or any military will only admit that our subs are capable to go to depths of 3000 feet. Some quick math tells you that is 14,000 pound per square inch. Think about how much pressure that is? Did you ever watch voyage to the bottom of the sea? Reflect on those large windows in the front of the sub. Yeah right!
There are so many things wrong with this movie that one really must check their brain that the door, get some popcorn and just don’t think about it.
In my novels, I try to make things believable, and my fiction has some science or physics behind it, in most cases. I would challenge writers; you included if you are a writer, to step up your game. When people read your novels or watch a movie that was made from your book, wouldn’t it be nice if the science actually made some sense?
The story line must have continuity, and that too was lacking in this movie.
Toward the end of the show, our hero must make a choice, die or let his wife die. Tough choice but since they have been playing crash cars with the bad guy in submersibles and survived it, why not throw some emotions into the movie, some drama.
I like the leading characters in this film and their acting was superior to the others, sorry; it is true. Drowning in freezing water, her plan is for her husband to drag her lifeless body back under the water without a suit (remember the 16,000 lbs of pressure) from the failing submersible to the “moon bay” which is an open pit that resembles a swimming pool. Once back on board they are to restart her heart with a defibrillator.
Folks, you use a defibrillator if the heart is out of its normal sinus rhythm something called tachycardia. If the normal rhythm is such that the muscles of the heart are not working synchronously with one another little or no blood will be pumped to the brain and other organs, thus death is probably going to be the outcome. That is when you use a defibrillator to put the heart back into a normal rhythm. It actually stops the heart and then with luck the normal regulator of the heart gets things going again.
If there is no heart beat, CPR is your best chance. “Zapping a nude wet body with a stopped heart” makes good theatrics but awful writing. Slapping her face telling her she never backed away from a fight was interesting but of course, she was unconscious so again, good theatrics.
Since I spent some time watching this movie, I could not help but comment. It is my hope that you writers out there find some gem or pearl of wisdom and make your stories more believable.
To you vampire writers out there, if a vampire puts on sun screen, can he or she go out in the daylight?
Much Love! -TW
Blog from Author TWScott 